Holiday Greetings!

I have just returned from a wonderful Mediterranean and TransAtlantic cruise. The sights were fabulous, the food delicious and the wine was superb. While i have been to Italy, Greece and Spain several times, I never get tired of the beauty and the food. Amazing!

Over the next few months I want to keep updated on how to prepare for the Transatlantic cruise on the Celebrity Reflection.

With airfares being all over the map right now, I suggest you start watching them and/or book them. I highly recomend that you arrive into Barcelona a few days ahead, simply to make sure there are no delays and you don't miss the ship sailing. The ship sails on Oct 19 and I would suggest that you arrive no later than Oct 17. You want to catch up on the time lag, as well as take in a bit of Barcelona. It makes starting your cruise feel like normal life. In the coming months I will make suggestions for shore excursions. If you have airline points to use for this trip, use them. Right now United is 30k points, Delta is 84k, American is 38k. Also check with Celebrity Air to Sea, and see how much their airfare might be. Also try using Hopper or Google flights to monitor airfares.

There are so many hotels in Barcelona in which to choose. The prices are all over the place too. Luckily we sail on Thursday so the hotel rates will have a bit better price for weekdays. If you find a hotel that you want, book it, but also be sure to have a refundable deposit. And then keep checking back. The inventory changes all the time and so do the rates. Go to hotels.com and put in your dates, look at the Barcelona map and see if you want to be in El Born (old town) or closer to Las Ramblas. Then read reviews and see what you want. I am pretty sure we will stay at Hotel Jazz as we did this last time. A three star hotel with a roof top bar. You can get a rate that includes a great breakfast buffet.

The final payment for the cruise will be in early July, so keep that in the back of your mind.

Finally, there are some good winter fares on cruising. If you or know of someone who wants to escape the winter cold, please send them my way. Just not those who want to sail Carnival. Not that I don't like Carnival, it is just the pricing structure has become so complex that the hours to navigate is hardly

cost effective. But one thing is happening in cruising and that fares change rapidly. If I quote you a price, be ready to make a decision quickly because more than likely the price will go higher. Demand is high for cruising, so the discounted fares get gobbled up quickly.

Have a great holiday and start the new year thinking about more cruise destinations. Europe - Hawaii - Mexico - New England - Alaska.

Enjoy my photos

Cheers,

Kathy Hays